New Beginings

'telepathy'
(thoughts)
Chapter 4

To say that Harry and his aunt walking into the Great Hall arm in arm and laughing, caused an uproar of silence would be putting it mildly. The entire Hall watched in total shock as Harry escorted Angela to the staff table before returning to sit in between Hermione and Draco. One deep scowl from Harry aimed at the entire room was enough to start the Great Hall busing much like it had the day before when the Princes of Slytherin had sat with the King and Queen of Gryffindor.( A/N: when i refer to Harry and Hermione as the king and queen of Gryffindor I mean that in a way as if they were brother and sister not the other way.)

" Harry, mate, what exactly did she say?" George asked. The Gryffindor sixth and seventh years leaned forward to hear what Harry had to say for they all knew how Harry had been treated when he lived with his muggle relatives.

" She mearly explained that she was sorry for allowing her husband and stepson to torture me for all those years and that she was sorry that she had been forced to participate as well. She also said that she had always loved me and she is willing to do anything to help me from now on." Harry said in a voice that said that no further explanation was going to be given. The students went back to their dinners and Harry mentally called to Hermione asking her to tell Fred, who she was sitting next to, the password for their common room and for him and George to come there after dinner. Hermione nodded and leaned in to whisper in Fred's ear. He smiled nodded and then turned to his twin to explain. George nodded and leaned past Fred to grin at Harry. When dinner was finished Harry got up and went to escort his aunt to her room.

" Harry, one of these days you'll have to show me all around the castle. I fear I might get lost otherwise." she laughed. Harry laughed with her and then pulled some blank parchment from his pocket.

" Here just use this." When she looked at him as if he'd grown another head he laughed, took out his wand and then pointed it at the parchment. " I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He recited clearly. His aunt let out a soft " Oh." when she saw that it was a map of Hogwarts and that it showed every student and staff member. " It's called the Marauder's Map. It's something that my dad and his friends made when they went to school here. It is never wrong and it is very valuable so when you are done you must say ' Mischief Managed.' Otherwise anyone can read it."

" But Harry, I don't have a wand and I can't do magic." Harry thought for a minute.

" Well lets see if it will work without. Try to make it work by simply saying the incantation." Angela did so and was not surprised when it didn't work. Harry's shoulders slumped until he heard a familiar laugh behind him.

" Remus! Of course!" Harry said hugging the reinstated Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher " Remi you remember my aunt Angela."

" Of course but last we met I believe you went by Petunia." Remus said slightly coldly.

" Rem, Aunt Angela was forced to treat me badly for my own protection. She has apologized and I have forgiven her." Remus still looked doubtful until Harry spoke to him telepathically. ' Rem I swear I'll explain everything later but right now could you just trust me?'

' You can speak telepathically?'

' Yes it's one of my new abilities.'

" Ok so I assume that you want to make it so that your aunt can use the map?" Remus asked out loud.

" That would be great Rem." Harry said then to his aunt explained, " Aunt Angela Remus is one of the Marauders. He helped make the map. He's gonna try and fix it for you."

" I see and which one are you?" she asked pointing to the names at the top of the page.

" Moony." Lupin replied.

" That's an interesting nickname."

" It's cause Remi here is a werwolf." Harry said before Remus could stop him. " Don't worry though he only transforms on the full moon and he takes a the Wolfsbain potion to keep him from harming others during that time. In fact I've even sat with him during the transformation. Remus is like a second godfather to me."

" Really?" Harry nodded. " Well if you trust him then I do too." Remus who had started to fiddle with the map and let out a triumphant cry.

" Ha! I was affriad that since neither James nor Sirius is here it might not work but I think it has. Here try it now." He handed Angela back the map.

" I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Angela said clearly. " It worked!" she cried when the parchment indeed showed everyone in the castle. Harry beamed.

" Thank you Rem."

" You're welcome Cub. Now, why don't I show Ms. Evens to her room and you go talk to your friends Harry."

" Aunt Angela?"

" Go Harry." she replied. Harry nodded before hugging both of them and telling them the password for his dorm was STAR WARS. Angela laughed.

" I don't get it." Remus said.

" It's the name of a muggle movie. One of the best actually." Harry explained.

" Ah."

" One day we'll watch it Rem." Remus nodded his consent and Harry ran off to his new dorm. He laughed when he heard his aunt start to explain about movie theaters.

" Harry there you are! We were beginning to get worried!" Draco said. Hermione and the twins laughed.

" Draco and Blaise were." Fred said.

" But we weren't." George explained.

" We knew you had the map." Hermione finished.

" What map?" Blaise demanded.

" The Marauder's Map." the twins answered. " We owe them so much."

" I'll be sure to tell Rem that." Harry laughed.

" Remus?" Draco asked as the twins narrowed their eyes.

" Harry. Why would Rem know about the map?" Fred asked in a low voice.

" Er.. well cause him and Sirius, my dad and Peter Pettigrew made it." The twins stared at him in disbelief.

" Wicked!" they said in unison. " By the way Harry," the twins simaltaiously cast a charm that turned Harry's hair green and purple, " That's for not telling us sooner." Everyone burst out laughing and once Harry had seen the damage he too laughed. It could have been far worse. Harry then explained to Draco and Blaise what the Map was and how he had given it to his aunt until she was familiar enough with Hogwarts.

" But Harry, how can she use it? She's a muggle." Hermione pointed out.

" Lupin fixed it so that she could use it too. He wasn't sure if it would work without my dad and Sirius but it did. So she has it for now but I'll get it back." Harry then spent the better part of a hour telling his friends what his aunt had previously told him about her actions while married to Dursley.

" You know I kinda feel sorry for her." Hermione said and the others agreed.

They continued to talk until Hermione noticed that Harry and the boys were starting to nod off. She ordered them to bed and since they no longer had the map Fred and George camped out in the common room. After saying goodnight everyone soon went to sleep. Dreams were peaceful until Harry woke up screaming at two in the morning. Due to powerful silencing charms placed about his room no one heard. Quietly Harry crept from his bed and padded silently to Hermione's room. He opened the door and crawled into bed with her. Used to Harry doing this when he had nightmares she didn't say anything just wrapped him into a hug and held him until he fell back asleep. When she was sure that he wouldn't wake again she too closed her eyes.

" Hey!" a voice yelled hours later waking Harry.

" Watch it! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" another joined it.

Harry smiled. Either Blaise or Draco had woken the twins. Not a wise thing to do unless you are wide awake yourself and have a shield charm firmly in pace. Harry heard Draco's unfortunate shrike of terror as Fred and George hit him with different spells. This woke the others and they all went out to asses the damage. Harry burst out laughing when he found that the twins had turned Draco back into the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. Hermione and Blaise soon joined in and after a few minutes Hermione made the twins turn him back.

" That'll teach ya to wake someone up so bloody early." Fred said stretching.

" Bloody Hell! This is my common room! It's not my fault the two of you slept in the middle of the floor!" Draco yelled. He turned to go back into his room when he saw Harry standing with Hermione in her doorway clearly having just woken up. " Potter! Why were you sleeping with Hermione?!" He demanded.

" What?!" Blaise said sharply turning to see that indeed Harry was in his girlfriend's room. Hermione shook her head.

" Boys." she grumbled heading to the shower.

" I sleep in 'Mione's bed when I have nightmares. We've been doing it for years." Harry explained shrugging. Blaise and Draco continued to stare at Harry with narrowed eyes. " Oh will you two get over it! Hermione is like my sister. Nothing ever has happened or ever will happen between us." They accepted the answer rather reluctantly and went back into their rooms to shower. Harry sighed and turned to the twins who grinned at Harry who grinned back. All six had breakfast together before biding the twins goodbye and heading down to their training.

" I can't believe they turned me into a ferret!" Draco complained on the way down.

" Well you asked for it waking them up like that." Harry laughed

" I forgot they were there!"

" Yeah well Fred and George aren't morning people. When you live in a house with five other siblings you learn to watch your back when you sleep. Next time put a shield charm up and you won't get turned."

" Who says there'll be a next time?!"

" Oh Draco do shut up." Hermione called. Draco childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

" All right children break it up." Aries called. " We're going to start now so I hope you are ready. Did all of you have a good breakfast?"

" Yes professor." they chorused.

" Excellent! Here are your clothes. Today I want to see just how far you can run in them. Today I will only have you for an hour and a half so let's get started." Quickly they changed and were soon setting off at a run. All were surprised when Aries called them back and told them that they had run five miles in the weighted clothing. " Wonderful! Last night I increased the weights by 50 lbs. That means that the four of you were running with 100 lbs weighing you down. I'll put more weight tonight and see how you guys fair tomorrow." With that he disappeared in a swirl of black silk and Artimas emerged from the wood. She wore what looked like a leather top that stopped just below her chest and shorts that were bearly decent. She had her hair pined up and there were a few leaves clinging to it. In her hand was a beautiful bow and slung across her back was a quiver filled with arrows.

" Right. Today you'll learn how to use a bow and arrows." She waved a hand and four targets appeared spaced about three yards apart. She waved another hand and a bow appeared in front of each of them as well as their own quiver of arrows. " Now watch me and then I want you to try it." She readied her arrow and took aim. The arrow flew true and hit the target dead center.

" Wicked!" Blaise exclaimed. Artimas smiled.

" Ok now you guys try." All four eagerly picked up their bows and arrows and began to mimic Artimas' movements. Artimas walked in between the teens helping here and there. " Ok now, aim and FIRE!" Four arrows sailed to their targets. The boys all hit the outer edge of the target ring but Hermione's arrow hit true splitting Artimas' own arrow down the middle. " Well done Hermione! Your aim is true. Five points to Gryffindor. Now let's try that again." They continued to practice for well over an hour. By the time Artimas had called a halt to the days practice Hermione had hit the bulls eye 25 times and Harry and Draco both managed to hit it five times while poor Blaise only hit it twice. " Don't worry boys I'm sure that with practice all of you will be able to improve. I'll see all of you tomorrow. Dismissed." she said turning to leave.

" Professor." Hermione called. " What about lessons with Professor Athena?"

" Athena won't start teaching you for another month. She is away on a mission for the Order."

" Oh. Er.. well thank you Professor." The four students took a much needed bath in the lake and then went inside for lessons. " Well today should be interesting! We finally get to have Harry's aunt teach us." Hermione chattered.

" Er..'Mione, I'm not taking Muggle Studies. Remember? I have Defense next." Harry said suddenly feeling guilty for not taking his aunt's class. But he had never taken Muggle Studies so he wouldn't be able to take it at N.E.W.T level, even though he grew up in the muggle world.

" I'm not taking it either. I have Defense with Harry." Draco said.

" Oh." Hermione said a little sadly.

" I have Muggle Studies Hermione." Blaise reminded her.

" Oh yes you do! Silly me I forgot. Well I'll see you guys later." she called as she and Blaise walked off.

Harry and Draco smirked and walked off to Lupin's class. They took seats in the back so they could talk if they wanted. Not that Lupin would much care if they talked because both excelled in DADA. In fact Lupin had asked if Harry could teach his class the days after he transformed. Harry had reluctantly agreed because he loved Remus. He didn't suppose it would be too hard for he had all ready tried his hand at teaching in fifth year with the DA and he found that he rather enjoyed it. Today's lesson was mainly a review of the last six years worth of DADA so Harry and Draco had little trouble when they were asked to preform a demonstration. Harry smirked when he was asked to preform a Protronus charm.

" Really Professor." he chuckled. " I've been doing these since third year." Everyone laughed and watched as Harry's stag cantered around the room.

" Excellent Harry! Your Protronus has maintained it perfect form yet again." Lupin cheered. He knew that Harry excelled at this charm but he still liked to see it preformed after all these years. It reminded him so much of James that sometimes when he was feeling low Harry would conjure it just to see him laugh again. " Very well class is dismissed and for homework I want twelve inches of parchment on the effects a Protronus charm has against Dememtors and how to properly cast it." Harry and Draco went to the back of the room to gather their stuff. " Harry could I have a word?" Lupin asked as everyone else left. Draco told Harry he'd wait outside and shut the door behind him.

" What's up Rem?" Harry asked.

" I want you to know Harry that your aunt explained everything to me last night. And that I am very proud of you for being able to forgive her." Harry nodded and shifted uncomfortably. He was never one who liked to brag or even be praised so much. " How is your training going by the way?"

" It's great! I'll tell you all about it this weekend but right now I kinda want to go get lunch." Harry said.

" Of course, of course. You and Mr. Malfoy run along. I'll be down in a bit. And Harry next week I'll be needing you to take over my morning classes. I should be better by the afternoon."

" Sure. Of course." Harry walked towards the door but hesitated. " Rem? I was wondering. Would you like to go out during full moon?" Lupin frowned.

" Harry I don't think that's wise. I haven't done something like that since my days at Hogwarts."

" I know but I thought that Draco and I could go with you. You see we both can transform into different animals and we could be there to help keep you out of trouble. Plus Hermione can come too. She and Blaise are part vampire and they are really strong and fast and they too can transform into bats."

" Well... I'll think about it Harry but I'm not making any promises." Remus said hesitantly.

" Ok Rem that's fine I'll see you later then." With a quick hug Harry left his second godfather's classroom and went to lunch with Draco.

" Did you ask him?" Draco asked once Harry caught up with him.

" He said he'd think about it." They entered the Hall and took their seats across from Hermione and Blaise. They never bothered with the coin after the first night since they weren't welcome at the Slytherin table anyways. Lunch was a quiet affair until someone opened the door and in ran a fox and a wolf. The pair suddenly leaped up and took spots next to Hermione at the table and began to eat ravenously. Just as McGonagall swept up to the table the fox and the wolf leapt away and ran back out of the Great Hall. Furious McGonagall marched back to the Staff table and sat back down next to Dumbledore who had a familiar twinkle in his eye. Harry turned back to the others and raised an eyebrow. The others shook their heads indicating they had no idea who the animals were or belonged to.

" Harry we should get going to Herbology." Neville said.

" Right behind you Neville. Just let me tell Hermione something." Neville left and Harry leaned over to Hermione. " Do you think that those two could have been you know who?"

" Who?" Harry fixed he with a look that said ' Isn't it obvious?'

' The twins.' Harry replied not wanting to expose them.

" I highly doubt that Ron and Ginny would show up here just to eat lunch in the Great Hall." Hermione said out loud. ' I think you're right Harry.'

" Right well I see you later 'Mione." Harry said leaving the table and heading for the greenhouses.